Saturday, 30 May 2009

In the pantheon of queer models of femininity, Barbra Streisand looms large — just below the holy trinity of Judy and Liza and Liz, perhaps. For many gay men of a certain age, La Barbra is something akin to a goddess. I’ve never understood the appeal, myself; but with the 3-DVD set Barbra Streisand: The Concerts sitting on my desk and awaiting review, it’s high time I figure it out. Because let’s face it — we are all products of gay culture now.

If that sounds like paranoid heteroseparatist conspiracy theory — fear the day when our gay overlords (David Geffen and Tim Gunn, most likely) force us all into re-education camps, to be released only when we’ve each written a 3,000-word essay on the greatness of the Pet Shop Boys! — the reality is both more mundane and more complex. The fact is that many of us, both gay and straight, could write our Pet Shop Boys essays already; that’s because traditionally-gay perspectives have been thoroughly co-opted by, and absorbed into, the cultural mainstream.

That influence goes beyond the what of popular culture — beyond the eminence of any individual gay artistic figure, beyond the cultural prominence of any gay-identified genre or artform (disco, say, or musical theater), beyond the dominance by gay people of any particular industry or cultural segment (e.g., fashion), even beyond the traditional role of gay people as cultural tastemakers and gatekeepers — and right to the question of how we interact with that culture. Our default modes of engagement with our entertainments derive fundamentally from gay sensibilities. The ironic distance; the half-sincere appreciation; the insider/outsider divide; the knowing wink; the concepts of camp and kitsch and “so bad it’s good”; all trace back to the gay experience, to the profound division of living simultaneously in two worlds, gay and straight.

The demise of the closet, as a changing cultural climate gives more gay and lesbian citizens the means and the courage to be open about their sexuality, has led some observers to proclaim “the end of gay culture.” What’s happened, though, is not extinction but assimilation. Those modes of understanding — by now thoroughly embedded in the larger culture — of art as a puzzle to be decoded, of the death of the author, of multiple meanings and subtext itself; these, I would argue, are the truest legacy of gay culture. Though they began as medieval tools for the interpretation of Scripture, they were brought to their ultimate potential by the need to communicate and share an identity that did not dare to openly announce itself — just as pasta, invented by the Chinese, was perfected by the Italians.

And so we come to our present cultural moment, and its delight in artifice. Inauthenticity, once a survival strategy for homosexuals in a straight world, is co-opted as an area of opportunity for play. Identity becomes fluid, and fakery — the more blatant, the better — becomes a badge of honor.

That’s nowhere truer than in the drag show. And that, I think, is the key to understanding divas, from Judy Garland to Barbra to Beyoncé; they are so much larger than life that they are, in essence, the drag-queen version of themselves, readymade.

So any protests that one may raise about Barbra Streisand being a preening show-biz phony — those are entirely beside the point. You know that going in. It is a scorpion’s nature to sting: it is Barbra’s nature to be a narcissist. All the blather about being a person who needs pe-e-e-e-eople — it is simply a lie agreed-upon. No news here.

But what is breathtaking about Barbra Streisand is how thoroughly postmodern her engagement with her audience is, despite the fact that she’s been in the business for nearly fifty years; she keeps the shuck front and center. On the first disc of this DVD set, “Live in Concert 2006,” she talks at length about how, in her return to the stage after a decade-long absence, and performing for the first time in an in-the-round setting, where she is literally surrounded by the crowd, she feels a new connection, a rare and exquisite bond between performer and audience. It’s wonderfully articulated, and genuinely moving to think that even an old warhorse like Barbra may feel anew the humility of youth. But then you watch the second disc, “The Concert at the Arrowhead Ponds” — shot for television in 1994 — and she does the same shtick. Shameless.

And kind of wonderful. It’s that simulation of grand emotion that elevates Barbra to the pantheon of the greats. When you look at the mystique surrounding her vs. what she actually does, it’s striking. She is treated as not just a light entertainer par excellence (which she is), but as an icon, even a goddess. At the bottom, as a singer and comic actress, drawing largely on the show-tune repertoire, she’s more Beverly Garland than Beverly Sills — or maybe Anthony Newley with a vagina. Lot of records, stage work, movies, puts on a good show, good for a long run in Vegas or maybe a residency in Branson; but Barbra becomes the diva for what she gives, or seems to give, and in the end it makes no difference.

The 2006 concert is probably for devotees only, as it is a rather solemn affair, all gothic pinpoint lighting and regal gowns of black. The program draws largely from Funny Girl, giving Barbra plenty of time to reminisce about the good ol’ days; she pokes fun at her own advancing age with the subtlety of a sledgehammer — “Oh, I need my glasses,” she announces, not quite as if to herself, each time she puts them on — and takes time out for a few political homilies that are inoffensive enough in their content, but horrifically banal in execution; “Tonight I don’t see red states and blue states, tonight I see the United States!” = O RLY?

For the Streisand fan, though, this is catnip, since it’s basically All-Barbra, All The Time. There are 62 musicians up on the stage with her, but you never get more than a glimpse of any of them. The intro may have a medium wide angle, or a crowd shot, but at some point in every song the camera settles into an extreme close-up of That Face, and just sits there for literally minutes at a time, as Barbra wails and emotes and acts up a storm. She scrunches her brows, she crosses her eyes, she holds every gaddam note that it is possible to hold for about as long as it is possible to do so, and then she does it again. And again. (I should note, here, that Streisand herself executive-produced, co-wrote, and directed the film of the show, along with co-designing her own gowns and, for all I know, mixing the cosmopolitans at the intermission bar.) Her voice is still remarkably strong and supple, and it had better be — because there’s basically nothing else going on here, musically. The orchestral arrangements are perfunctory — grand, but empty; great pillowy strings, with all the chords in place but little color or motion. Ballad follows ballad, with only a single uptempo number early in the show. Only the occasional duets with special guest Il Divo break up the monotony; unfortunately, they also provide an opportunity for more oy-vey-am-I-old humor — an opportunity that Barbra does not squander.

(A brief aside here about Il Divo. These guys are basically an international operatic boyband; imagine the Three Tenors, if there were four of ‘em, and they were all young and reasonably good-looking in a Eurotrash kind of way, and they did a program of light classics and pop chestnuts, “La donna e mobilé” up with Andrew Lloyd-Webber. It’s not just a bizarre idea, but a terrible one; the wide vibrato of the classical voice is antithetical to the tight harmonies of the boyband style, meaning that whenever these guys try to sing together, the pitch is all fucking over the place. “My Way”is a sturdy song, and can put up with a lot of over-the-topness, but it meets its match and crawls away weeping in its encounter with these dudes. This middlebrow nightmare was assembled in the studio — and heavily hyped — by impresario Simon Cowell. Yeah, that Simon Cowell. Now based on this, why, exactly, have we appointed him the arbiter of public taste, again?)

The second disc, from 1994, has considerably more to offer the novice. The bandleader here is that canny old hack Marvin Hamlisch, and he keeps things cooking along in the brass and percussion, such that even the ballads — and the show is still lopsided in that regard, though not quite as egregiously — have a touch of swing. It’s a multimedia extravaganza, with Barbra performing a duet with Marlon Brando (!), via footage from Guys and Dolls on a giant screen; she even gets to do some acting, in a series of skits that find her interacting with the disembodies voices of various psychotherapists. It’s more overtly campy than the Holy Holy Holy Barbra gas of the 2006 concert — which is itself camp, of course, but of a far more subtle variety — but overall, that’s to the good.

The third disk is made up mostly of clips from Streisand’s various TV specials throughout the years. Its intended function is mostly as an enticement to the true fan to pony up and buy them all — each is available in its own deluxe DVD set, of course — but they prove the same point that the comparison between the 1994 and 2006 concerts does; that before there was this myth that grows stronger with each passing year, the myth of all-caps BARBRA STREISAND, there was an entertainer named Barbra Streisand — and as the myth has grown, the entertainer has diminished.

Maybe, at this stage of the game, Barbra doesn’t figure she needs any new fans. Certainly she hasn’t made any in this house. Her presentation is all too self-impressed, too solemn, and unlikely to become less so as the legend grows. Authenticity is a debased coin, these days; I get that. But is it too much to ask that an evening with one of pop’s great divas should at least be fun?

"I'm gonna say this out loud and I know I'm gonna get shouted at for it, but when did gay people start having such bad taste in music? Didn't we used to be the leaders and the tastemakers? Then maybe about ten years ago... what happened?"(Bob Mould)

Some of you more regular readers may recall when I was rightly pissed off when regular contributor of photos to this blog TimN managed to get me to take his photo with Charlie Haden and then was unable to snap me and the great man...(here.)Well I haven't quite forgiven him for that, but look what I found while surfing the net the other day.An article from the English music paper the 'Melody Maker' dated September 24th, 1977 about Glasgow and punk rock, containing an interview with Tim!(Nice to see he was talking crap back in those days too!)Such a handsome wee laddie...contrast with the picture above and we can only wonder what went wrong?

(Click on above images to enlarge.)PS: I did leave a message with Tim suggesting that a small bribe would stop me publishing this, but as yet I have not heard back so...I am sure I will hear from him tho'

UPDATE:Well I thought that this would get Tim out of hibernation. Check the comments for his response.

MES: So what's situationism Tony?AHW: Malcolm McClaren thought it would be a Situationist act to create a band which would be massive simply because they were disgusting , and had no value in themselves.But..MES: Forget all the pop shit. You got me here to speak about SituationistsAHW: No I didn'tMES: See, that's a typical Situationist reply.AHW: No Mark, you were invited probably because in your attitude, demeanour philosophy and activity...MES: So this is Situautionism? A sort of sub-psychiatry.AHW: Mark, you are a Situationist but you don't know itMES: How do you mean?AHW: You follow your own will. You do what you want.MES: So that's all this philosophy means?AHW: Look, I just like the slogans. I'll tell you the slogan I like. In 1969, as a child of the left, I went down to London for a meeting f the IS. It was the most horrendous evening of my life. But I found an image taken from the Return of the Duruttý Column. It has 2 cowboys talking to one another. one asks what the other thinks about reificationMES: The Stalinists did that better...AHW Autonomia in ýtaly were good but the Situationists were funnierMES: Look the thing about you Situationists, is that you go into a situation and you just leave it , you don't work at it. You put people in a situastion and then just piss off with your bloody degrees. Richard Branson's a Situationist.AHW: No he's fucking not!MES: Richard Branson signs 115 bands and then sacks them when he's bored with it. That's not art in my estimation. What's the difference between the Situationists and bloody Prince Charles? You just put people in situations and then bugger off.AHW: Look Mark it's about anarchy. Do you know what that means?MES It's go down to fucking 10 Downing Street if you want to do something about itAHW: Yes that's rightMES: You take the IRA. They've done nothing positive. They just fuck up working class people's lives.AHW: I think you'll find that the Situationists were the most anti IRA Mark we can all sit here and have a laugh, but anarchy means something. It's a term like conservatism or republicanism.MES: But you'll still keep the chair. You remind me of Stalin at Yalta.AHW: Anarchy's the complete fucking opposite of that. Look, I'll buy you a book on Buenaventura Durutti, which will explain to you what it means. No leaders- which is a dichotomy, because we always need leaders- no heirarchy. make men fight through belief in themselves, not military discipline. Look, I'm a fan, and I just use slogans and referencesMES: See, you just keep changing the subject. The Situationists keep going around from art to politics to pop music...JK: It's difficult to follow all that. What I found most interesting was not to be passive. I was attracted to the Situationist ideas of voyeurism, passivity, postponement, denial...(WAFFLES ON ABOUT COWBOYS, NEO FASCIST ARCHITECTURE AND THE GANG OF FOUR)...What matters is doing things.MES: What, like the Gang of Four?JK: I suppose we did.MES: No I mean the Chinese gang of four. They killed ten million people.JK: I have no sympathy for these people. The gang of four is just a phrase, that was used by the liberal democratsMES: That's going back a bit.JK: Yes it is. The good old days. And of course we have the religious name of your band, which refers to Adam and Eve. It is interesting to have with us today a religious extremist....I came into contact with the guys from Art and Language which the Situationists weren't interested in. They booked a poster site in Newcastle, where they put up a Vichy poster. It hada Nazi head with, below it, workers carrying spanners. It read: ''Il donne son sang. Donnez votre travail'' I think we should have awhipround and book poster sites around the country. The poster should have a big NATO helmet and say: ''He gives his blood; give your work or non-work'' Basically I wanted to make music that was totally different and not easy to listen toMES: Is that why you tried to pinch my bass player in San Francisco in 1983?Jon King: It was worth a try. We had 2 records banned by the BBC: ''At home he's a tourist'' in 1978 and ''I love a man in a uniform'' Now I feel miffed at not making lots of money, but it gave you a sense of pleasure to know you had done something objectionable.Stewart Home: I got into punk after seeing the Sex Pistols on Tony's TV programme. I was 14 at the time and switched on to see Mott the Hoople. It had a terrible effect on me. Now if we take genre theory from Marxist theory and apply it to punk, we see that the Sex Pstols were not a punk band. Of course it can be said that in 1976 the Sex Pistols were classified as punk, but that now, if you go into a record shop, they are in the rock section: there are different socially negotiated ways in which the pistols can be defined. From the perspective of musicology we can contest the punk nature of the sex pistols. If we listen to johnny Rotten's lyrics they are expressive not monotone. The records are over produced and not recorded on 4 track. If you listen to the drumming, it's pretty much meat and potatoes rock n roll. Never mind the bollocks is not a punk record.But we can't get away from history and the supposed connections between punk and the Sýtuationists. Jamie Reid, if he were here, would say he liked the slogans, but didn't understand the texts. There is the historical myth that Malcolm McClaren and Jamie Reid were in King Mob in the early 70s. Now that is difficult to prove as King Mob didn't have an organized membership, but King Mob were part of the anarchist freak scene in Notting Hill. King Mob did contain people who had been in the British section of the Situationists but who were expelled because of their links with the Motherfuckers. If you read issues 2 1/2 and 3 of King Mob you see that there are eulogies to the Motherfuckers. They based themselves on the Motherfuckers; for instance going into Selfridges dressed as Santa Claus and giving out toys to kids then being arrested by the police. The Motherfuckers had already done this in New YorkMES: Who are these Motherfuckers?SH: You should read my books ''Cranked up really high'' and a new selection of my essays which are on sale in this hall. Plug plug plug. The Motherfuckers demonstrated against art exhibitions. They would advertise that there was free booze and then loads of tramps would turn up at art exhibitions.MES: Are there any other bands you like?SH: I like Panasonic, if you're into Finnish technoAHW: If you look at the intersections between British pop and Situationism you see that we are responsible for references to and popularisation of Situationist ideas. Malcolm and Jamie wanteed to do something interventinalist and failed. Because the Sex Pistols turned out to be a fabulous band whatever fucking genre they are in. I think the only truly Situationist act in British pop music was Malcolm's ex partner Fred aand Judy Vermorel's beautiful glossy book on Kate Bush which can still be found in Virgin shopsMES: Are you serious Tony?AHW: I'm more serious tan you've ever seen me Mark!SH: You have to buy my booksAHW: I think that shows how little we understand what we're talking aboutSH: No they took all their ideas from me. You see this is all to do with historicisation. The Situationists needed a stalking horse in popular culture and punk provided it even if they would denounce punk. Punk gave them an entree into the mainstream mediaMES: So basically you're taking the piss out of the working classSH: No I'm taking the piss out of the bourgeousieMES: You ened up like bloody KLFSH: KLF are attacking the art establishmentAHW: I think KLF wanted to be artists. Im not sure about burning the million pounds..MES: That was easy. You just use a photocopierAHW: But I liked what they did on an icy field off the M4 Blackmailing that idiot woman from the Tate to come out. And the Channel 4 team running around like scalded chickens trying to get rid of the advertMES: If you piss around like that you dilute artAHW: Yes you dilute it till it washes awayMES: But then you become like a Chinese Russian or SovietSH: How do we define art?AHW: The rock scene has played a big role in popularising these ideas. Whatever you think of him, Greil Marcus's writings have kept interest alive. And all that comes from Factory records enclosing the horseman sticker in a record we sent him. Greil stuck it on his cassette player for 3 years until he wondered where the fuck it came from.MES: There you go talking about the past.AHW: But that leads to the present, to KLFMES: We're talking about the bleeding past. Art is timeless it never stops. You've got to carry on.JK: I agree. What matters is that people should do things.MES: There are a lot of people who go on about the old days. It's a kind of middle aged crisis. I find this objectionable.JK: Yeah, teddy boys and zoot suits.MES: I always thought being a Situationist meant the now.SH: The Situationists dissolved themselves in 1973 or 72. They're not going anymore.MES: Good.AHW: This is a museum, Mark. I'm thinking about the most shocking band of recent times, who played on this stage, the Happy Mondays. Were they anarchist interventionists? Mark, I've always wanted to ask you: Why did you try to stop me putting out their records? You left a message on my answerphone in 1990 saying ''Tony this has got to stop''. I've always wanted to know what time of the morning it was, and what you meant.MES: It was probably 5 o'clock. I wanted the video back of my play. You were plagiarising me.AHW: Did you think we were corrupting society?MES: I objected to upper middle class kids pretending to come from Salford.AHW: The Happy Mondays were lower working class.MES: Who cares?AHW: It was you who brought it up you dickJK: Why are you here, Mark?MES: I was a last minute addition. I thought we were going to talk about French writers.AHW: It could be because you, as a typical British rock star, embody these undercurrents. You do what the fuck you like, and you're objectionable.MES: Maybe Tony you wanted to be a pop star?AHW: Never I'm musically incapable. I'm a journalist.MES: And I just like to write.Stewart Home: So you want to be a writer?MES: Have you met any writers?SH: I am a writer. I've published 4 novels, on sale at 5.95 over there..AHW: Mark, do you ''drift''?MES: What do you mean?AHW: Do the streets coax you down?MES: Mind your own business!(The debate moves to the floor. A question is asked by Professor David Bellos)DB: Can you explain to me why you called this place the Hacienda, and whether the spirit of Situationism lives on in it?AHW: I didn't find the name. I would give to all my employees the little green book, ''Leaving the twentieth century''. One day my partner Rob Gretton was wondering 'what the fuck are we going to call this place?' He opened the book at Chtcheglov's essay and saw the phrase 'The hacienda must be built'DB: That is an anecdote about how you found the name, but does it have any meaning?AHW: No not at all. We were looking for a name for the bar over there. We were attracted by the anarchist idea of a pantheon of heroes. The Angry Brigades considered Kilby (sic) and Burgess to be great class traitors, comedians of the twentieth century.MES: You find that funny? Two of my schoolfriends were killed by them.AHW: Tough!MES: What, Blunt hanging around with the queen? Is that Situationist?AHW: At Cambridge the Angry Brigades had the Kim Philby luncheon club.MES: They were pissheads, traitors.AHW: Exactly we called our can bar ''Hicks'' after Burgess's code name.MES: Blunt was showing the queen paintings while my best mates were being tortured to death.AHW: That's class war.MES: Class war? Looks like the upper class fighting the working class.Jon King: We should remember that a lot of bands took Situationist ideas seriously, and forwent commercial success. Raul Vaneigem's book changed a lot my way of seeing things: stealing slogans through detournement, disrupting cliches.AHW: Although there was nothing in the books to guide us, I wonder how much Factory records was influenced by this world of thought. We were the only record company which did not own the music. Because of the contracts we signed in blood in 1979 we had no control over our back catalogue, which meant that when Factory ran into trouble four years ago, we had no assets. I wonder if this circle of thought led us to do something so stupid...and hysterical.(The discussion drifts into revolution...)SH: If we look at things historically, we see that those who made revolutions were all in their forties or fifties. Our society is trying to get rebellion out of the young before they can do real damage.JK: According to a Situationist text, ''Misery of student life'' the young have no economic value, no stake in the system. They can therefore be dangerous.AHW: But kids today have loads of money. They are a big economic force. And they refuse to be brow-beaten into being selfish. I think it's very strange living in the nineties, after the end of history and the left, to look back at the sixties and seventies Then we were going round with Marxist and Anarchist slogans unaware that they were bizarrely opposed. It was ýne of the tragedies of modern politics. When Bakunin was expelled from the International, the link was broken between community and individualism. From then on the Left was fucked. It's why the Wall came down. Because we're all individuals.MES: No, it's because they ran out of money.SH: I think you'll find that Bakuninist ideas of organisation were not abandoned. the Communist International was the realisation of Bakunin's idea of a centralised secret society. Leninism, I would contend, was the realisation of Bakuninism.AHW: Bollocks!

Atomic Veterans were members of the United States Armed Forces who participated in atmospheric and underwater nuclear weapons tests from 16 July, 1945 to 30 October 1962. They also include veterans who were assigned to post test duties, such as “ground zero” nuclear warfare maneuvers & exercises, removing radiation cloud samples from aircraft wing pods, working in close proximity to radiated test animals, de -contamination of aircraft and field test equipment, retrieval and transport of test instruments & devices, and a host of other duty assignments that provided an opportunity for a radiation exposure & contamination event.

“The first few issues had a lot of serious articles by William Burroughs about the overthrow of the state. He used it as his platform to work out his ideas. And there was Ginsberg too. All the usual suspects. When we were running out of money, I was talking to Paul McCartney about it, and he said, ‘Well, you should interview me, then you’ll get ads from the record companies.’ And I thought, ‘hey, he might be on to something.’ So I interviewed him, and then George Harrison, and then the next week Mick Jagger called up, demanding to be interviewed too. And Paul was right, we got ads from the record companies.”(Barry Miles - 2007)

Christopher Gray has left the 21st Century!Obituary here and from 'Sannyasnews' here.(Thanx to Jahsonic)For years back in the 70's and 80's I used to pass 'The Chris Gray Band' painted on a wall down near Victoria Station in London.There is talk that 'The Guardian' obit will appear tomorrow.'Leaving the 20th Century' is also famous for bringing the graphic work of Jamie Reid to a wider audience for the first time.

Tuesday, 26 May 2009

Full story at the 'BBC' here.For all Australians that is 'STRAK-AN', god knows where you get 'STRAWN' from...It was nice to see that Dalziel & Pascoe meant that all the Dalziels in Australia at last learned how to pronounce their own bloody name!Another aside to the Aussies reading this.If you ever wondered why Sir Robert Menzies was called 'The Big Ming'. It is because the correct pronunciation of Menzies is 'MING-IS'!!!

The best cat in the world who has accompanied me from pillar to post these past 5 or 6 years.Originally found as a wild kitten across the road from where my kids lived, she is very much a one person cat, but she knows ALL my secrets!Named Jade for her green eyes and is overall just SO damn beautiful.

Saturday, 23 May 2009

The late, great Kathy Acker interviews the late, great William S. Burroughs.Alongside the late, great J.G. Ballard they were to me the holy trinity of "writers/artists/observers who understood our evolving modern world (and its dark, deep gutsy soul) far better than most." *"They talk about many things: Word as Virus, Scientology, Jesus and the legion of apocryphal stories that followed Burroughs around like carrion crows. This took place in the late ’80s, and both had less than a decade to live, passing away within a few months of each other in 1997. We will not see their like again."**

(Thanx to 'Renegade Futurist' for the heads up. Via 'Coilhouse'/'Breaking Time')* Breaking Time** Coilhouse(Using the search engine to the right will lead to more of Acker/Ballard & Burroughs here on 'Exile')

May I draw your attention to this blog.'anothernic' has commented at this blog before but it took me a while to work out that I knew him from elsewhere.We are both members of a group that discusses anything and everything but that usually involves cheese, beer, dope and the GOGD.No - that is not true anything can be discussed there as the current thread of why we want to be lesbians (in the manner of Loudon Wainwright (and note that is not L-U-D-I-N- W-E-I-N-R-I-G-H-T) will attest.